Finding You (ON HOLD)

Chapter Eight

Image of Kyle Withers played by Aaron Tveit

|8.|

Zoella's P.o.V

I could feel my face drain of color when I saw the name that I was paired with. I was paired with the one and only Nolan Winters. I quickly walked over to my seat and took a deep breath, exhaling through my nose. This was terrible. Why did I have to be paired with him?

This was the guy that met Shredder A.K.A me. Not that I didn't have a hard time talking to guys, I mean, look at Shredder, but for some fucked up reason, I stuttered around him more than usual. Sure, he was hot. Hotter than any guy that I met, but I could always keep my cool - and stutter - to a minimum around them. Not with this guy, though. And that scared the shit out of me.

"Am I really that bad?" A deep voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

Speaking of the Devil, guess who was in front of me? If you guess the one and only Nolan Winters then you were right!

"H-Hi," I whispered, bowing my head. Gage has been trying to get me to work on my self-esteem, but that hasn't been working.

"I'm your partner." He paused, looking at me. "For the riot project." He rushed as if I didn't know.

"I k-know." Damn my stuttering to hell!

"Oh, okay, do you wanna start now or later?" He asked. I looked up at the clock. Only five minutes left of class.

"Later," I said, still quiet.

"Okay, we can go to your house -" I cut him off. There was no way that he was coming to my place. People knew that I was rich - probably by my car - but I wasn't going to risk him walking into the garage and seeing my Koenigsegg.

"No. We c-can go somewhere e-else." My voice was hard, but still at a whisper.

"Okay," He said, dragging the word out, surprised at my tiny outburst. "We can go to the library."

"Okay," I said just as the bell rang.

I whispered a 'goodbye,' not sure if he heard me and almost ran out of the room. Okay, maybe away from him. But I wasn't paying attention and ran into someone else.

"Whoa, whoa whoa," A familiar voice said. "Who's got you running?" Gavin said, placing his hands on my shoulders to steady me.

"No one," I whispered.

"Oh really?" He said, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Then who is that?" He pointed behind me.

Nolan was barging past people coming straight towards me.

"T-That's Nolan. We g-got partnered." I confessed.

"And you're running from him because?" Gavin questioned.

I was about to answered him when another hand landed on my shoulder. I stiffened and stood up a bit straighter. The person seemed to notice this and dropped their hand.

"Wow, you can run fast." Fuck. It was Nolan. "Look, when should we meet up?" He asked.

I shrugged.

"You can come with us." Gavin, curse you for opening your big mouth.

"Really? Thanks!" He looked surprised and something else, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

***

The rest of lunch was awkward, to say the least. Wes came over to sit with us and gave Nolan the same weird look that Nolan had when Gavin said that they could sit with us. I guess that it was just Logan that thought this was awkward too because he was tense thought the entire thing. Danni, Kyle, Gavin, Wes, and Nolan all talked about whatever.

I, though, kept my head down, not wanting to join a conversation. I guess that Danni noticed this because she kept trying to bring me in on them. I always gave her one-word answers. I was definitely not in the mood to talk. When the bell rang signifying that lunch was over I stood up was about to rush off - again - but a voice stopped me.

"Zoella!" Nolan yelled out to me. I turned around, looking at his chest (which looked great with his tight fitted black T-shirt).

"Yeah?" I asked quietly.

"We can meet up at the library on Wednesdays, okay?"

"T-That's sounds g-good," I whispered, getting ready to turn around.

"Hey, um, what's your next class?" He asked, scratching his neck.

"AP Calculus."

"Cool, so do I. Mind if I walk with you?" He asked.

I froze for a second. Why the hell Nolan Winters, the new, sexy, popular, guy in school asking to walk with me? This was ridiculous. I was about to just turn around and walk away, but Logan took this time to jump in.

"I think that she's good." His voice was hard.

"Okay man, sorry to ask." He put his hands up in mock surrender and backed away. "See you in class." He spoke to me.

I just nodded.

"C'mon," Logan said, placing his hand on the small of my back.

I nodded again and walked with him so class. He never removed his hand from my back until we got to Calculus, I thought that that was weird, but I didn't say anything. Gavin, Kyle, and Logan were always a little over protective.

The rest of the day went smoothly. Nolan was caught up in work so he couldn't talk to me - which I was happy for - and I just kept my distance, dreading Wednesdays. Today was Wednesday but I planned on going next week because tonight I had a race and there was no way that I was going to be hanging out with Nolan and doing research on the LA riots than going to a race. And that was final.

***

I looked up at the clock in my room. It was five past six. I cursed. My race started at six. I looked around frantically trying to find my red leather jacket. I looked all over the place and I still couldn't find it. I groaned and mentally said 'Fuck it.' I walked quietly downstairs, hoping that Gage was out or was in his room.

Luck was on my side for once.

He was sleeping on the couch. Who falls asleep at freaking six o'clock? I thought to myself. I silently stepped into my garage, thankful that when the police came and started their investigation they didn't need to go in there. I guess that the video that Gage took was enough evidence to lock them up.

I shook my head to rid myself of those thoughts. They were just going to ruin my night and I couldn't have that happen. I was Shredder for fuck's sake. And Shredder had to win. I wasn't going to let my parent's toxic thoughts back in.

I parked my car and walked over to Vladimir. He was part of the Russian Mob but was decent - for a mobster at least. He was the only person that knew my real identity. He knew that Zoe was Shredder. He helped me when things went to shit and I was dying in the street.

"'Sup Vladimir," I said, slapping him on the back.

"Dammit Zoe, you almost gave me a heart attack." He clutched his heart.

I snorted in a very unladylike way. "Says the mobster."

He chuckled. "You racing?"

"Yessir." I saluted him.

"Alright. I'll get you signed up." I nodded, hugged him and walked away. Only to find a bike parked in front of my baby.

And that bike was a 2014 Ducati 119 Panigale S. Guess who that belonged to? If you guessed the one and only Nolan Winters than your right.

"Hello, Shredder." He deep voice said.

"Hiya Nolan," I said.

This was going to be a long night. 

~~~

Yay, Chapter 7. Hope that you liked it. Sorry if there were any mistakes I was really tired when I wrote this. :(

Published: Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2015

Word Count: 1273

Edited On: 4/1/17